I'm Getting Orders And It Makes Me Excited/nervous

Business By Echooo3 Updated 18 Aug 2010 , 6:50am by Butterpatty

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Echooo3 Posted 17 Aug 2010 , 11:17pm
post #1 of 7

Okay, so I've been legal for just about a year. Making cakes and cookies, got lots of friends so I get orders from time to time.

Praise God, I'm starting to get orders from people I don't know. It's weird, it's like, I don't know how to talk to them (for heavens sake I don't even know them). I ask how they heard about me and it this new "free" website I found - dicideo.

It's getting me so excited and it really is what I want to do but to me it's just odd knowing there are people out there that don't "know" me that will buy a cake from me.

Surely this will pass, but it's just weird. Has anyone else felt this way in their start up phase?

6 replies
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jason_kraft Posted 17 Aug 2010 , 11:35pm
post #2 of 7

It definitely was unnerving when we started actually getting paid for our cakes, it took us a while before we even thought of ourselves as a "real" business! icon_smile.gif

A few tips: I highly recommending claiming your business's page on Yelp.com and mentioning it to both customers and prospects. A lot of our business these days comes from our Yelp reviews, and we no longer have to advertise. Also, if you take business calls on your house line (as we do, since we don't have a retail shop), I recommend setting up a Google Voice number. You can pick your own number and specify times when it should and shouldn't ring your house line.

And some quick feedback about your web site -- I like the header and the photo gallery, personally I like putting as much content as possible (within reason) on the home page, since many people don't click through to other pages. Based on your content you could probably start out with just the home page and the contact us page. Plus, lose the music, IMHO it's not very professional for a bakery site. If you were promoting a band, that would be a different story. icon_wink.gif

Your big value proposition seems to be delivery to WDW...you'll definitely want to call attention to that. Instead of the "Open" sign at the top, you could put a nice graphic promoting "Delivering Cakes to Walt Disney World 7 Days a Week!"

Finally, consider getting a Facebook account for your business, and using twitter instead of an email mailing list.

Good luck and enjoy the ride!

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Echooo3 Posted 17 Aug 2010 , 11:43pm
post #3 of 7

jasonkraft, thank you so much for your feedback. I will definately make those changes.

It's a ride for sure. Do you remember the beginning being like this? It's surreal, euphoric, is this REALLY happening.

I guess I should just take it a day at a time.

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Echooo3 Posted 17 Aug 2010 , 11:48pm
post #4 of 7

Changes made!!

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mookamoo Posted 18 Aug 2010 , 5:36am
post #5 of 7

yes I completely know how you feel...I am there now as well...learning with you!

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madgeowens Posted 18 Aug 2010 , 6:15am
post #6 of 7

Good Luck Echoooo...I am excited for you icon_smile.gif

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Butterpatty Posted 18 Aug 2010 , 6:50am
post #7 of 7

Love the photo that shows the pretty torting job in your photo gallery of your website. Maybe add a pretty cake photo to the face page? Sometimes that is what draws me into a website (an eye-catching photo). Good luck with your venture! It sounds like an exciting time for you.

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